Where to Cool Off
The public places you can actually get to when it is too hot to be outside — air-conditioned, in the water, or genuinely shaded, with what is open right now.
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The public places you can actually get to when it is too hot to be outside — air-conditioned, in the water, or genuinely shaded, with what is open right now.
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When it is 108°F outside, the useful question is not whether it is hot — it is where you can actually go, and whether it is open. Which kind of relief works depends on the hour, so this page puts the right one first: at the peak of a July afternoon nothing but air conditioning really holds, while by seven in the morning the shaded parks are the better answer and they cost nothing. Every place here was checked on the city or county page it links to.
Right now — as of Thursday, 1:44 am MDT
Nothing on this list is open right now.
St. George Recreation Center opens at 5:30 am today.
About official cooling centres
Neither St. George nor Washington County publishes a list of official cooling centres or heat shelters — we looked for one and there isn't one. That is why this page is a list of ordinary public buildings and parks instead. If the problem is keeping your own home cool rather than finding somewhere to spend an afternoon, the state's HEAT programme below is the door in.
Everything on this page is an ordinary public place that happens to be cool — a library, a pool, a park. None of it is an official cooling centre or an emergency shelter, and none of it is staffed to help someone who is already unwell. Heat illness builds before it shows: if someone is confused, stops sweating, or collapses, call 911.
This page is a list of places, not a warning service. The official forecast, heat warnings and health guidance live here.
Dry air means shade brings real relief here — but only early, late, or on a milder day. In the middle of a summer afternoon, shade alone is not enough.
A pond, an amphitheatre and planted gardens on the Dixie Drive side of the same site as Thunder Junction — the closest thing St. George has to properly shaded ground, with mature trees over the paths and water to look at. The city does not publish the nature centre building's own opening hours, so ring before you count on getting inside; the grounds follow city park hours.
1851 South Dixie Drive, St. George · 435-627-4579
Water cools you fast, but a splash pad in open sun is still open sun — bring hats and shade, and watch the youngest.
A wheelchair-accessible playground built for every ability, with a climbing wall, a volcano, a splash pad and a roaring quarter-scale train on a 2,700-foot track. Covered pavilion, restrooms, drinking fountains and power outlets. The splash pad reopened for the season on 30 July; the train runs Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at $2 a ride, and can close without notice for weather or maintenance. Registered service animals only — no other dogs.
1851 South Dixie Drive, St. George · 435-627-4575
Air conditioning is the only kind of relief that works whatever the hour and whatever the temperature. These are open to the public.
The county's main branch, a block off Main Street. Free to walk into and sit in for as long as you like — you only need a card to borrow something. Open until 8 p.m. four nights a week, which makes it the latest free air conditioning in town.
88 West 100 South, St. George · 435-301-7580
See when it's cool enough to be outside — the other half of the question — which hours the heat and the air actually allow, read on the National Weather Service scale
Hours change, and seasonal water features go off without notice. Each entry shows the day we last checked it against the page it links to — ring ahead before you drive across town.
This page says where the heat is easier, never that being outside is safe. When the forecast and this page disagree, follow the forecast.
Town Tools builds free, public tools for St. George and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
Checked 30 July 2026
Eight acres of downtown park under big full trees, with a gazebo and covered pavilion, four separate picnic areas, a playground with pendulum swings and zip-lines, three lit sand volleyball courts and six lit pickleball courts. It is where the free summer concerts and the Saturday farmers market happen, and where the St. George Marathon finishes. The restroom block is under construction — portable toilets in the meantime.
300 South 400 East, St. George · 435-627-4531
Checked 30 July 2026
Downtown's splash pad: jets that spray high into the air, a shallow lazy river to cool your feet, and a splashing waterfall, with shade pavilions, tables and chairs alongside for whoever is watching. The restored antique carousel and the children's museum are on the same square, and there is free WiFi and a restroom block.
50 South Main Street, St. George
Twelve acres in a quiet canyon on the south side: a large children's playground and a splash pad, open grass, a walking trail and trailhead, tennis and basketball courts, and a sand volleyball court. Covered pavilion, BBQ grills, restrooms and drinking fountains, all first come, first served — the city takes no reservations here. The city does not publish this splash pad's own season or running hours, so ring parks and recreation if you are driving across town for it.
3505 South Barcelona Drive, St. George · 435-627-4531
Two playgrounds with a splash pad on the east side of town, alongside six soccer fields and thirty-three pickleball courts. Covered pavilions with power outlets, picnic tables and BBQ grills, two restroom blocks, drinking fountains and walking paths. As at the other park splash pads, the city does not publish this one's own season or hours.
2995 South 2350 East Street, St. George · 435-627-4531
The outdoor municipal pool: water from three to twelve feet deep, two diving boards, a basketball hoop, tube rentals, a separate enclosed toddler pool for under-threes, concessions, and the Hydro-Abyss — a 330-foot water slide. It is outdoors, so the sun is still on you; it opens at 1 p.m. for open swim and runs to 8 p.m. in high summer.
The pool's season runs 22 May to 7 September. Outside it, Sand Hollow Aquatic Center is the indoor, year-round alternative.
250 East 700 South, St. George · 435-627-4584
Checked 30 July 2026
The city's indoor aquatic centre, and the one place here that is both out of the sun and in the water. A 25 m by 25 yd competition and diving pool with a diving board and a rock climbing wall, plus a 5,800 sq ft leisure pool with zero-depth entry, children's water toys, a water walk and a water slide.
1144 North 2400 West, St. George · 435-627-4585
The city's indoor recreation centre: a full-size basketball court, an auxiliary gym, four racquetball courts, a fitness and weight room, a dance and spin room, and pool tables and air hockey in the lobby. It opens at 5:30 a.m. on weekdays — before the heat starts — and there is no swimming pool here; that is the City Pool and Sand Hollow.
285 South 400 East, St. George · 435-627-4560
Checked 30 July 2026
Checked 30 July 2026
Checked 30 July 2026
Checked 30 July 2026
Checked 30 July 2026
Checked 30 July 2026
Checked 30 July 2026